The present invention relates to bird feeders and more particularly to a hummingbird feeder and its use.
It is difficult (if not impossible) to maintain a feeding cup in a hummingbird feeder free from contaminates. Insects, wind blown debris and other undesirable materials contaminate the feed source so that it becomes unsightly, as well as being unhealthy to the feeding birds. In many instances, the contamination also contaminates the feed reservoir. The Patent literature abounds with alleged solutions to the contamination problems with bird feeders. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,990 to Hiday discloses a insect trap used in combination with a bird feeder having a water barrier to cut off insect infestation into the bird feeder. The Hiday patent trap includes a water receiving cavity having a base wall, a side wall and a stem with a means for positioning the insect trap between a hanger and the bird feeder so as to prevent movement of insects beyond the trap. U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,904 to Anderson discloses a hummingbird feeder having a divider wall and support posts which support the hummingbird feeder and prevent crawling insects from accessing into the surrounding body of fluid. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,816 to Santa Cruz, there is disclosed a tubular design for a humming bird feeder with a limited capacity fluid chamber so as to prevent spoilage of a water/sugar solution. In another patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,348 to Colwell, et al, there is disclosed a hummingbird feeder having a top wall, a bottom wall, and the top and bottom walls join at the ends to create an enclosure for a reservoir. The feeder is provided with a cleaning opening which is large enough to facilitate cleaning of the reservoir, and a removable cap for cleaning the opening. U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,290 B1 to Fisher discloses an automatic bird feeder and waterer which contain both a food and a water reservoir for supplying food and water in dispersed portions. Another U.S. Pat. No. 6,499,430 B2 to Garcia-Lucio, et al discloses a feeding tube used with a hummingbird feeder having a design of a imitation flower. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,553,936 B2 to Sasso discloses a hummingbird feeder that includes a storage vessel for fluid, such as nectar, and an attached portion for feeding. Lastly, U.S. pat. application Ser. No. 2001/0029899 to Arlitt discloses a hummingbird feeder which may be disassembled for cleaning.
None-the-less, there still exists a need for a liquid bird feeder, such as a hummingbird feeder, which may be readily cleansed of undesirable debris and insect infestation by mechanical flushing of the contaminates therefrom without requiring manual intervention into the feeding cup or feeding reservoir.
The present invention provides a liquid bird feeder which may be readily cleansed by flushing unwanted debris and contaminates from a feeding cup. The hummingbird feeder includes a feed reservoir for retaining a liquid feed reserve (such as a sugared nectar) essentially protected from insect penetration, a feeding cup from which the bird may feed upon the liquid feed, a pump for pumping the liquid feed from the feed reservoir to the feeding cup and an overflow trap positioned so as to capture undesirable contaminates which are flushed from the feeding cup by overflowing the feeding cup with the liquid feed. Cleansing of the feeding cup may be accomplished by pumping excess liquid feed into the feeding cup causing an overrun of liquid feed laden with contaminates onto the overflow trap. The hummingbird feeder of the present invention also provides a method for flushing liquid feed contaminates and debris from the hummingbird feeding cup by pumping liquid feed to the feeding cup causing the contaminates to overflow from the feeding cup and run onto the overflow trap.